1. Introduction to 9th Grade Poetry
A unit where you read, write, create and analyze poetry!!!

2. This is poetry…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAx845QaOck

3. Poetry
Poetry is the most misunderstood form of writing. It is also arguably the purest form of writing. Poetry is a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty and expressing this through words.
It is art. Like art it is very difficult to define because it is an expression of what the poet thinks and feels and may take any form the poet chooses for this expression.  

4. Poetry, cont.
Poetry is not easily defined. Often it takes the form of verse, but not all poetry has this structure. Poetry is a creative use of words which, like all art, is intended to stir an emotion in the audience. Poetry generally has some structure that separates it from prose.

5. “In a poem the words should be as pleasing to the ear as the meaning is to the mind.” -- Marianne Moore

6. Each half has its own function
The Human Brain
Divided into 2 parts
Each half has its own function
Right Brain:
Creativity
Emotions
Left Brain:
Logic
Reality

7. To clarify . ... . When you are looking at big puffy clouds . . .
Your right brain tells you, “Hey! That one looks like a bunny.”
While your left brain tells you . . .

8. It’s a cloud, Stupid!

9. So, which half do you use when studying poetry?
Here are a few hints:
Poetry requires creativity
Poetry requires emotion
Poetry requires an artistic quality
Poetry requires logic .

10. both

11. We’ll start with the sound devices:
For the Left Brain:
Recognizing certain devices used within a poem will give the left brain something to concentrate on.
We’ll start with the sound devices:

12. ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ She Walks in Beauty I.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.
Reading this poem out loud makes the rhythm evident.
˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄
II.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
Count the syllables in each line. Do you notice anything?
III.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

13. Structure of Poetry
The basic unit of poetry is the line. It serves the same function as the sentence in prose, although most poetry maintains the use of grammar within the structure of the poem. Most poems have a structure in which each line contains a set amount of syllables; this is called meter. Lines are also often grouped into stanzas.  
The stanza in poetry is equivalent or equal to the paragraph in prose. Often the lines in a stanza will have a specific rhyme scheme. Some of the more common stanzas are:
Couplet: a two line stanza
Triplet: a three line stanza
Quatrain: a four line stanza
Cinquain: a five line stanza  

14. Structure/Meaning 2 Phase Poems
Climb Mount Fuji,
O Snail,
But slowly! Slowly!
Issa
Evening sky –
over the city lights
stars hardly seen.
Goal
Warning
Observation
Realization
Alexey Andreyev

15. Structure/Meaning Multiple Phases
Passing
Observing
Resolving
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Frost

16. A poem uses sound devices
Noise Day
by Shel Silverstein
Let’s have one day for girls and boyses
When you can make the grandest noises.
Screech, scream, holler, and yell –
Buzz a buzzer, clang a bell,
Sneeze – hiccup – whistle – shout,
Laugh until your lungs wear out,
Toot a whistle, kick a can,
Bang a spoon against a pan,
Sing, yodel, bellow, hum,
Blow a horn, beat a drum,
Rattle a window, slam a door,
Scrape a rake across the floor
Onomatopoeia
Several other words not highlighted could also be considered as onomatopoeia. Can you find any?

17. A poem uses repetition and rhythm
In this next poem, listen closely for each

18. Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Remember this

19. Look familiar? I walk into a room Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
. . .
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Look familiar?

20. A poem uses comparisons and rich imagery
Ars Poetica
By Archibald MacLeish
A poem should be palpable and mute as a globed fruit,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.

21. Literary Terms
Throughout this unit, we will be looking at examples of 18 poetry terms & devices.

22. Poetry uses
Imagery is an appeal to the senses. The poet describes something to help you to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell the topic of the poem.     Therefore, poetry employs the senses to get directlu to our emotions
Fog
The fog comes on little cat feet.
It sits looking over harbor and city
on silent haunches and then moves on.
Carl Sandburg  

23. Stanza & Sentence
Stanza In poetry, stanza refers to a grouping of lines, set off by a space, that may have a set pattern of meter and rhyme. Consider it a paragraph.
Poetry is written in sentences and should be read in sentences to be understood!!!

24. Verse
Verse- poetic lines composed in a measured rhythmical pattern, that are often, but not necessarily, rhymed.
As opposed to “Prose,” the ordinary language used in speaking and writing

25. Blank Verse
Blank verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is the English verse form closest to the natural rhythms of English speech

26. Free Verse
Free verse is just what it says it is - poetry that is written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, and meter.
In free verse the writer makes his/her own rules. The writer decides how the poem should look, feel, and sound. 

27. Final Thoughts
Some might consider the study of poetry old fashioned, yet even in our hurried lives we are surrounded by it: children's rhymes, song lyrics, raps, trite commercial jingles, sermons, speeches, and well written texts.
Any time we recognize words as interesting for sound, meaning or construct, we note poetics.  

28. The real power of poetry is that it is like music, a pure form of expression.
Often it is raw, disturbing, unsettling, beautiful, and profoundly moving
In few words poets can express what takes most of us a thousand